Report: Afghan Violence Unchecked

April 28, 2003|By Tribune Newspapers

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — The United Nations has revealed that factional fighting in northwestern Afghanistan in March led to a string of killings that may have been the bloodiest series of human-rights abuses since the end of the war on the Taliban regime and the al-Qaida terrorists it harbored.

A U.N. team found that a string of clashes, slayings and lootings that began March 24 in Badghis province claimed 38 civilian lives. In addition, 26 combatants were executed and found with their hands tied behind their backs. The deaths were concentrated in the village of Akazi.

In an unusually critical statement Sunday, the United Nations urged local police and the Badghis governor appointed by President Hamid Karzai to "arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice, as well as take all other necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of similar events."

Until the mission visited the Badghis region from April 16 to 20, the U.N. and local human-rights officials had only a "vague idea" of the violence that had gripped the province bordering Turkmenistan, spokesman David Singh said Sunday.

"The remoteness of the area often makes it impossible for these people to address complaints to the central government," the U.N. statement said.

Factional violence has been rising in recent weeks across Afghanistan. It is typically caused by friction among ethnic groups or between rival warlords and their subcommanders.

Remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaida also continue to attack and harass U.S. bases and patrols along the Pakistani border.